Fringe Series Lookback: Beyond the Edge of the Universe and Back Again

By Tim Surette

Jan 26, 2013

When Fringe was announced in 2008, comparisons to The X-Files weren't just appropriate, they nailed it. At that point, all we really knew about the show was that a few weirdos (including one handsome dark-haired dude and one sexy redhead) would team up to solve unexplained cases that normal FBI spooks weren't smart enough to handle. But throughout its five-season run, Fringe distinguished itself from its main influence to be something much, much more than poking gross things with a stick.

And the show ditched comparisons to The X-Files by using its greatest trait: Its ability to adapt. Like co-creator J.J. Abrams' previous series Lost, each season of Fringe was its own creature with its own unique traits, for better and worse. But it would be some time before we knew exactly what we had on our hands. In order to be as audience-friendly as it could be at the start, Season 1 was an anthology of standalone cases designed to bring in eyeballs and not upset easily upset viewers who like their television neat and tidy. Hardly novel. Serial aspects crept in the longer the season ran, but nothing much bigger than what other procedurals on network television were doing. This was Fringe at its safest and most boring; hardly indicative of what the show was capable of.

It wasn't until the end of Season 1 that Fringe began to show its hand, taking the procedural-happy hitchhikers it'd picked up on an entirely different ride and perking the ears of sci-fi nerds. I remember when the show introduced the idea of parallel universes, and I'm pretty sure I peed my pants in excitement and prayed the show would go where I hoped it would go. And it did. But seeing a potential long life to the series, Season 2 teased the alternate universe (fore me, Olivia flying out of the taxi in the Season 2 premiere was a turning point for the series) more often than visiting it, and in Season 3 Fringe went full-on bonkers, which is exactly what we were all hoping for.

Oh my god, Season 3. Everything came together brilliantly for Fringe in Season 3, which remains one of the best seasons of television, sci-fi or otherwise, that I've had the privilege of covering since I've been in this business. The back-and-forth between the two universes opened up so many possibilities, but showrunners Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman made a great call when they used this new concept to focus on the romantic relationship between Peter and Olivia. It was a will-they-won't-they scenario that had no rules because there was no precedent for it on television, unless I missed the episode of Moonlighting where Maddie was cloned and her new carbon copy started a relationship with David. The addition of the second universe and a second Olivia brought Fringe into its own Age of Philosophy, with unanswerable brain-scramblers being asked weekly. Could you also love a copy of a person you already love, especially when the copy doesn't have the same hang-ups as the original? How much do one's experiences shape a person, and how much of a person is always embedded in their consistent core? Dirty blonde or redhead?

Season 3 was layered, man. So many new aspects were smooshed together that the show could've easily buckled under its own weight. But it was a unique storytelling device that glued everything together and was the real hero of the season: The concept of the "Mythalone" took the series to new creative heights. Many Season 3 episodes were telling a standalone story and working on the season's mythology, and thematically they resonated with each other. If an episode was about some creep who ripped out the hearts of his victims, it came back around when Peter had his heart crushed by Olivia. If an episode was about Fauxlivia learning about an unexpected pregnancy, the case involved parasites eating someone from the inside. And Fringe, with its out-there ideas, needed this sort of anchor. I don't know if it made it harder to write the show, creating weekly cases that reflected the set path of the mythology, but it certainly made it a lot more fun to watch.

The idea that each season was built on a new concept inherently makes each season only as good as its concept, and that's where Season 4 tumbled from the peak of Season 3. Peter was "erased" in Season 4 and didn't even show up for a good many episodes outside of being an odd flickering apparition. It was a daring move, but it was one that didn't entirely pay off. Some fans were outright PISSED, and I see their point. See, (at least) half of what made Fringe so good was its characters and their relationships with each other. We'd watched them grow from strangers into a tight-knit group that only had each other. Think about Season 1 Olivia. She was guarded, cold, joyless, and not so "quick to smile," as Peter put it. Those characteristics put many viewers off both her and the show early on, but I like to believe that her behavior was intentional all along. We saw her become someone entirely new, someone warm, someone who would finally smile, and there is no doubt that the reason it happened is that she spent time with Walter and Peter. The same can be said about Walter, whose manic moments were softened as his relationship with Peter grew stronger, and his eccentricity turned into patriarchal love. Don't get me wrong, he was still a freakshow, but an adorable freakshow.

By resetting things with a new timeline and new versions of Olivia and Walter, Season 4 took the relationships we'd watched grow for three years and erased them. Given their concept, Pinkner and Wyman asked all the right questions in an attempt to replicate much of the success of Season 3, and many times that worked. But most television audiences feel that character relationships are sacred ground and shouldn't be messed with so suddenly, and Season 4 was never able to fully overcome its "erasures," despite some fantastic moments. A lot of the philosophy still remained, and some standout episodes ("One Night in October," "And Those We've Left Behind") kept the show alive in Season 4. But without the concrete relationships established over the previous 60-plus episodes, the show felt more hollow than it'd been before.

Which brings us to Season 5, and the series' biggest reboot to date. Building on the post-apocalyptic "What if?" scenario of Season 4's "Letters of Transit," Season 5, the series' last, jumped into the future and transformed Fringe entirely from an emotional near-future procedural into an epic sci-fi action movie. On its own, it was watchable with shining moments. But compared to what the show was before, I'd call it a mess. Even though Season 4 was shortened to just 13 episodes, things started off slow and laborious as Walter's scavenger hunt had us chasing items for a reason unknown to us. Peter had a dalliance with Observer technology. Walter wanted to be relobotomized. And Olivia never had much to do at all. Though a clear goal was set (kill the Observers!), several core tenets of Fringe's past were dead and gone. There was no alternate universe (well there was, we just didn't go there until very late), no philosophy, no lingering questions that kept us awake at night and remained until the next episode, and the emotional territory revolved around a new character (daughter Etta, the metaphorical and physical product of Peter and Olivia's love) who'd just been introduced.

But the final episodes of Fringe salvaged plenty; they were a service to the fans, giving us one last visit to the alternate universe and strumming the emotional chords one last time. The show may have started off as a show about three unique people who solved strange cases, but in the end it was about a father and his son, a couple, family, and the enormous sacrifices we're willing to make for the people we love.

Fringe is gone. Gone! Forever. This will likely be my last bit about the show here on TV.com, but we'll be talking about it as long as we have functioning mouths that haven't been closed over by some toxic gas. And I'll talk about it reverently because even though it wasn't perfect, its greatest accomplishments were unlike anything I'd ever seen and affected me on so many levels. Toward the end the ratings may not have been what we would have liked, but future generations will stream the series and be wowed just like we were. And in some alternate universe, Fringe definitely got the recognition it deserved.

A FEW MORE THINGS ABOUT THE SERIES THAT, TO ME, REALLY STAND OUT

The Theme: If you ask me (go ahead, I'll wait... okay thanks for asking) one of Fringe's great contributions to the Museum of Television is its theme. Written by Abrams, it's actually a clue to where the series would go. Listen to the first "verse" and it's fairly simple. The second verse adds more complexity by hitting twice as many notes, and then the final seconds are a dude pounding on a keyboard like Schroeder on bath salts. If you can process the sounds visually, it's a tip to the multiple universes. The first piano chimes represent the world we see, the second batch adds another layer (the red universe to the blue universe), and at the end you're essentially staring into the void and seeing the infinite possibilities of infinite universes, something I had hoped Fringe would approach had it lasted longer.

The Openings: As a big fan of relevant opening credits, I always admired Fringe's because they were simple enough to be altered for maximum effect. Remember when the 1980s version came out? You were like, "Holy shit this rules!" weren't you? Because that was the appropriate response. And when the credits went red, more expletives. All the way up through the Observers version of Season 5, Fringe never just threw something out without wondering what could be done to make it cooler.

The Budget: Toward the end of the series, the show's budget was a pool of lunch money. But the men and women behind the scenes stretched those Canadian Loonies as far as they possibly could for really impressive production values. Though special effects were a big part of the series, they were only used when necessary. The sets always looked great, and the backdrop of the alternate universe and 2036 became worlds all their own. Fringe created its own world(s) as well as any sci-fi property ever has.

The Acting: Do you remember being iffy on Anna Torv when the show began? The girl ended up putting it all together and delivering one of television's most unheralded performances as the bazillion iterations of Olivia. There were moments in Season 3 when I didn't even recognize Torv in Altlivia. But obviously the big to-do here is the wonderful John Noble, who went unrecognized in the awards field as Walter Bishop.

MikeUK123
Apr 06, 2013

Rolamb
Mar 19, 2013

Every once and a while I want to see the S05E01 ending again. Seeing Walter in a bit of despair and then hope when he sees the flower, the colouring of that stage, the music, it makes me tear up again and again. It was a fantastic opening of a grand season. For that scene alone he should have had a golden globe (or at least a nomination).

cinthy_11
Feb 11, 2013

MikeUK123
Feb 09, 2013

Just been watching a few clips of the actors talking about the final episode. You can see just how much they invested in this show, and how much they believed in it. Sad to think it has gone........ but good to see threads like this show it will be hard to forget.

adijakupovic5
Feb 07, 2013

I am very very sad to see this show come to an end. It was a great ride. Watching the first season got me hooked on it, but Season 2 and 3 really delivered for the show. The erasing of peter in Season4 really hurt the show's credentials in my eyes as the charcter's interractions very very important for the show. The relationships between Walter Peter and Olivia were disregarded. Fringe restarted well once Peter came back into the fold but it could never recover. The end wasn't great by any standards, it disappointed but it was entertaining nevertheless. I didn't care much for the season finale because when it ended I was like "meh". But in subsequent days I started thinking about the whole opus, Fringe's 5 seasons.

One of the best sci-fi shows to grace the small screen, imperfect yes but very very attaching. Acting was great, the mood was great, camera work and the score. So many points to touch on, but I will elaborate a little on one specific. Throughout 4 seasons of the show, Fringe communicated to us that Peter was of the utmost importance, the catalyst (with Walter). We never really knew why, but implicitly it was shown. But to arrive to the last 2-3 episodes and have September tell Walter that it was actually that baldheaded kid that was the important boy made the series fall flat at the end. "The Boy must not die, he is important". In the whole series they were alluding to Peter being the Boy and then that idea lost its power once we were introduced, very late, to Michael. I felt like Michael was brought in as a literary plot device because the writers, which happened in Lost also (hmm. wonder if it has something to do with J.J. Abrams) didn't know how to end the show. michael basically became the "God Child" from Mass Effect 3, a deux ex machina, brought in to rapidly close off the series by pulling a fast one over our eyes, seemingly to erase all contradictions from the show and close all plot holes in one big giant move. That way, the producers hoped, we would fall for it. Well I didn't and it didn't really work. The show didn't need Michael, even if his story was well presented and integrated into the show, it was a move that was uncool and disrespectful to the fans of the show.

All in all, it doesn't take from the greatness of the show. Kudos to Fringe for a great run!

Genesistt
Feb 01, 2013

I just finished watching the last season of Fringe, and honestly, I think they should have ended it at Season 4. It had a perfect ending then. The world was saved. The bad guys were bested. Peter and Olivia were together and happy. Walter was happy. Olivia was pregnant. It was a good series end.

And then they did Season 5.

There were some episodes that were ok, I guess, and it was nice that Walter also got back his memories of Peter that he lost in Season 4.

But all in all, the ending with them resetting time just opens up the massive loophole of if the Observers never existed, then none of it would have happened, because September wouldn't have existed to save Peter from the lake. Not to mention that September wouldn't have been there to distract Walternate from his work and he would have been able to cure his Peter, hence leaving our Walter with no reason to cross over to the other side and steal Peter.

See what I mean? You can't just say "we're resetting time." It has too much far reaching repercussions.

But ok, I'll go with it. It's Fringe and I have had to go with a lot. I still didn't like the end of the last episode. It was just kinda cut. It didn't feel very properly done.

Oh well, I've stuck with Fringe for all 5 seasons. I will miss it. I still think season 1 and 2 was fantastic TV.

MikeUK123
Feb 01, 2013

shootingstar609
Jan 30, 2013

My favorite thing about FRINGE, without regard to any particular storyline, is the writers' ability to "go there." Every time there was an idea that something might happen but you weren't sure it was going to happen because of how insane it sounded when you said it out loud that's what would happen. It never failed to amaze. And the believability was way up there as well, everything that happened on Fringe could really be happening in Boston, New York, etc. and we would never know about it! I totally agree about the credits, it was really cool seeing the different variations and it was nice to have credits that meant something instead of just listing the cast and crew. And underrated actors, mostly John Noble and Seth Gabel since their two characters are the most different, but it really extends to everyone. As for comparisons with the X-Files in the first season, I would compare this comparison to the comparisons between Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers. When Rodgers first started playing, he was compared to Favre 100+ times per game, but at the end of his first season he had distinguished himself as a different, good player and shown that he would be sticking around for a while and now, a couple of years later, the comparison is almost never made. Fringe distinguished itself at the end of it's first season and during it's second season and beyond as a show with great ideas and the means to pull them off. I will definitely miss this show and there will never be anything quite like it. Viva Fringe!

CharmedOneP391
Jan 29, 2013

Thanks for the final article! Such a beloved series, it really was a special experience being a part of the fandom waiting for renewals each season, especially toward the end of Season 4 and the whole twitter takeover on Fridays. (#WeCrossedTheLine)

Looking back on the finale, it did the show justice. I'd love to see a feature film down the line, so Peter and Olivia could retrieve Walter from the future, take a trip to the other side. Now that William Bell is seemingly still the Villain that got away post Season 4, he's really the only unanswered question now.